Electromagnetically actuated valve

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to an electromagnetically actuatable valve that has a magnet part, a moveable armature element, a spring element, and a valve part. The magnet part has at least one coil form with a magnetic coil wound on it, a flux concentrating element and a center pole. The valve part has a closing element that cooperates with the armature element and controls the opening and closing of the valve on a valve seat. The armature element is designed as a clapper-type armature and cooperates with the center pole by way of a damping element.

The invention relates to an electromagnetically actuatable valve, inparticular for use in motor vehicles according to the preamble of claim1.

RELATED ART

Electromagnetic valves are made known in the related art, in which theopening and closing of the valve is achieved by means of a moveablesolenoid plunger. The disadvantage of this is that, due to thestructural arrangement of the components in such valves, an air gapresults between coil and center pole, between solenoid plunger and coil,and between solenoid plunger and center pole, which leads to a markedloss of magnetic flux. A further disadvantage of the traditionalelectromagnetic valves is that, when the valve opens and closes, thesolenoid plunger, which is made of iron, strikes the center pole of themagnetic coil and produces a clearly audible noise.

Object of the present invention is to create an electromagneticallyactuatable valve of the type described in the preamble of claim 1 thatis low-noise or optimized in terms of noise during opening and closingthat simultaneously ensures an improved magnetic flux and also savesspace.

This object is solved according to the invention using the subjectmatter of claim 1.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

The electromagnetically actuatable valve according to the invention hasa magnet part, a moveable armature element, a spring element, and avalve part. The magnet part includes at least one magnetic coil wound ona coil form, a flux concentrating element, and a center pole. The valvepart has a closing element that cooperates with the armature element andcontrols the opening and closing of the valve on a valve seat.

According to the present invention, the armature element of the valve isdesigned as a clapper-type armature. The use of a clapper-type armatureis advantageous, on the one hand, because the entire electromagneticallyactuatable valve can then be designed to be smaller in size than when atraditional solenoid plunger is used. This space-saving design of thevalve expands its potential uses. On the other hand, the use of aclapper-type armature involves a better efficiency of the magneticcircuit, which is caused, among other things, by the resultant improvedpossibility of arranging the clapper-type armature relative to the othercomponents of the valve, whereby air gaps that inhibit magnetic flux arelargely avoided and only occur between center pole and armature element.

Moreover, the clapper-type armature according to the inventioncooperates with the center pole by way of a damping element so thatunpleasant noises are prevented when the valve opens and closes. This isparticularly important when the electromagnetically actuatable valve issituated in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, e.g., in theseats, to vary the seat surface.

The armature element and the valve part are preferably located in ahousing. The armature element, the flux concentrating element, theclosing element, the spring element as well as the damping element areconfined in the housing in pressure-sealed fashion. This can be achievedby pressure-sealed injection of the flux concentrating element. Allsensitive components of the valve are therefore protected. The housingcan also be designed to be two-piece or multi-piece and be permanentlyjoined by gluing the housing parts together, for example.

In a further preferred embodiment, the electromagnetically actuatablevalve has a damping element with a damping stop which absorbs sound, sonoise is reduced when the valve opens and closes.

Moreover, the flux concentrating element is preferably designed as abracket which is situated on the perimeter of the magnetic coil.

In yet another preferred embodiment, the armature element actuates aclosing element to open and close the valve, which closing element isdesigned as an umbrella sealing plug with an umbrella membrane. Theumbrella sealing plug is flexible and preferably made out of siliconerubber. As a result, when the clapper-type armature, which is made ofiron, strikes the umbrella sealing plug to open the valve, noise isreduced considerably.

The damping element and the closing element can preferably be designedas an integral damping shoe, which also consists entirely of an elasticmaterial such as silicone rubber. This damping shoe can be attacheddirectly to the armature element or it can be injection moulded to it.This embodiment is particularly practical, because the absorption of thesound caused by the striking of the clapper-type armature when the valveopens as well as when it closes can be achieved using the same device,which can be easily and quickly attached to the clapper-type armature bysliding it into place, or it has already been injection moulded to it.

DRAWING

Two preferred embodiments of the clapper-type armature are shown in thedrawings, which are explained in greater detail using the descriptionbelow.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a cross-sectional view of theelectromagnetically actuatable valve according to the invention, andembodiment of the electromagnetically actuatable valve according to theinvention.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an electromagnetically actuatablevalve 1 in cross section which has a magnet part 2, which includes acoil form 3 on which a magnetic coil 4 is wound, as well as aperpendicular flux concentrating element 5 on the perimeter of the coilform 3, and a center pole 6 situated inside the coil form 3. Moreover,the valve 1 has a valve part 9 having a closing element 11. The closingelement 11 for opening and closing the valve 1 cooperates with anarmature element 7 on a valve seat 10, whereby the armature element 7 isdesigned as a clapper-type armature. The armature element is therebysituated on a face of the magnet part perpendicular to the longitudinalaxis of the center pole 6 and is connected with the flux concentratingelement 5. To open the valve, the armature element 7 is pulled throughan induced magnetic field in the direction of the center pole. Theclosing element is an umbrella sealing plug with an umbrella membranethat makes it possible for a fluid to flow through the valve channelwhen the armature element 7 is picked up. The umbrella stopper consistsof a flexible material such as silicone rubber. Moreover, a head 18designed on the center pole 6 is provided with a damping element 14 thathas a damping stop 13. The armature element 7 is held on a springelement 8 on the side opposite to the side actuating the closingelement. The spring element 8 is a spiral-coiled spring that returns thearmature element 7 to its position that closes the valve.

The spring element 8, a section of the flux concentrating element 5, thearmature element 7, the head of the center pole 18 as well as theclosing element 11 are contained in a housing. The housing comprises anupper housing section 16 that touches the coil form 3, and a lowerhousing section 17 in which two openings 19—one inlet opening and oneoutlet opening—and the valve seat 10 are located. The upper housingsection 16 and the lower housing section 17 are permanently connectedwith each other and form a pressure-sealed compartment. The valve seatis generally a component of the lower housing 17.

FIG. 2 also shows a schematic diagram of an electromagneticallyactuatable valve 1 in cross section, whereby the magnet part of thevalve 1 has the same design as the one described in FIG. 1. It differs,however, in that the closing element 11 and the damping stop 13 aredesigned single-piece as a damping shoe 15. The damping shoe 15 isattached directly to the armature element 7 or it is injection mouldedto it. Moreover, a leaf spring is used as the spring element 8, which isattached to an end section of the flux concentrating element 5 extendinginto the housing and to a section of the armature element 7. The layoutof the housing as well as the arrangement of the components of theelectromagnetically actuatable valve 1 included therein correspond tothose in FIG. 1.

REFERENCE SYMBOL LIST

1 Valve

2 Magnet part

3 Coil form

4 Magnetic coil

5 Flux concentrating element

6 Center pole

7 Armature element

8 Spring element

9 Valve part

10 Valve seat

11 Closing element

12 Face

13 Damping stop

14 Damping element

15 Damping shoe

16 Upper housing section

17 Lower housing section

18 Head

19 Opening

What is claimed is:
 1. Electromagnetically actuatable valve (1)comprising a magnet part (2), a moveable armature element (7), a springelement (8), and a valve part (9), whereby the magnet part has at leastone magnetic coil (4) wound on a coil form (3), a flux concentratingelement (5) and a center pole (6), and the valve part (9) has a closingelement (11) that cooperates with the armature element (7) and controlsthe opening and closing of the valve on a valve seat (10), characterizedin that the armature element (7) is designed as a clapper-type armatureand cooperates with the center pole (6) by way of a damping element(14), wherein the closing element (11) actuated by the armature element(7) to open and close the valve is an umbrella sealing plug with anumbrella membrane.
 2. Valve according to claim 1, wherein the armatureelement (7) and the valve part (9) are contained in a housing.
 3. Valveaccording to claim 2, wherein the armature element (7), the fluxconcentrating element (5), the closing element (11), the spring element(8), and the damping element (14) are arranged in the housing in apressure-sealed compartment.
 4. Valve according to claim 1, wherein thedamping element (14) has a damping stop (13).
 5. Valve according toclaim 1, wherein the flux concentrating element (5) is designed as abracket which is situated on the perimeter of the magnetic coil (4). 6.Valve according to claim 1, wherein the umbrella sealing plug isflexible and, in particular, consists of silicone rubber. 7.Electromagnetically actuatable valve (1) comprising a magnet part (2), amoveable armature element (7), a spring element (8), and a valve part(9), whereby the magnet part has at least one magnetic coil (4) wound ona coil form (3), a flux concentrating element (5) and a center pole (6),and the valve part (9) has a closing element (11) that cooperates withthe armature element (7) and controls the opening and closing of thevalve on a valve seat (10), characterized in that the armature element(7) is designed as a clapper-type armature being coupled to the fluxconcentrating element (5) and cooperating with the center pole (6) byway of a damping element (14), wherein the closing element (11) and thedamping element (14) are designed as an integral damping shoe (15). 8.Electromagnetically actuatable valve according to claim 7, wherein thearmature element (7) designed as a clapper-type armature is coupled tothe flux concentrating element (5) by the a-spring element. 9.Electromagnetically actuatable valve according to claim 8, wherein thespring element is a leaf-shaped spring.